Comments–19 October 2015

Note: Some of the comments regarding “Ivan Says No!” were copied here from website at VeniceUpdate.com, as was one regarding the post office.

Ivan Says NoNathan Court
Totally agree. Santa Monica is the WORST hypocritical neighbor you could imagine. They tout themselves as a “green” city but then push all their airport pollution onto Venice. They claim to be all about social justice, implemented programs that encouraged “travelers” to flock to the area from all over the country, and then once they realized the consequences, shut their borders and pushed most of them to Venice. I personally avoid spending money in Santa Monica if at all possible and frankly, Los Angeles should just bulldoze roads leading into Santa Monica until they behave.

Dennis Hathaway
Ivan makes some salient points about how policies of the city of Santa Monica have had a negative impact on Venice and other surrounding communities. One he didn’t mention concerns the gridlocked traffic to and from Santa Monica at rush hour on Lincoln Blvd. and other north/south thoroughfares. This is a direct result of policies that have made Santa Monica a major employment center on the Westside, with the development of office parks, tech centers, shopping and entertainment venues, and other businesses that have greatly increased the city’s tax revenue as well as the influx of people from outside the city. While this can be seen as a benefit for Venice and other L.A. areas in terms of employment opportunities, it has made the traffic situation insufferable without any requirement for mitigation. At the same time, that tax revenue that many L.A. residents contribute to in one way or another has allowed Santa Monica to make streetscape and other infrastructure improvements that we in Venice and elsewhere can only dream about. And finally, to add insult to injury, Santa Monica prohibits those big dirt-hauling trucks from staging in that city when they’re going to major construction projects there, so they sit idling on Lincoln Blvd. here in Venice, taking up parking space and spewing diesel pollutants into the air that you and I and our children have to breathe.

Nathan Court
Totally agree on the trucks. They often park in red zones. I aggressively call parking enforcement on them every time I see them in red zones. As a result, they have stopped parking near me on Amoroso. I would encourage you to call parking enforcement every day you see them. They actually pick-up, unlike the police! (probably because the city can make money on tickets). If enough people call and complain every time they show-up, parking enforcement will eventually get on it. I also called Bonin’s office and Nancy there was good about also calling parking enforcement. The truth of LA is the squeaky wheel gets the grease, provide you squeak loudly and relentlessly.

Heather Kahler
Santa Monica – the snob city of the westside
Santa Monica. RIGHT ON! They are the snobbiest community, and I don’t know what high horse of self righteousness they think they are on! After excluding nearby residents from Everything that is otherwise public and recreational, likely anywhere else in the COUNTRY, they exclude, they charge, they take care of themselves. They have become one of the most selfish communities on the westside. And now they are appealing to us to support them when they push us all out, and yes, fly over our homes and crash into our parks and golf courses. …..Their sense of entitlement is so incredibly obnoxious. And I grew up in part in santa monica, having always lived in the Marina, I went to saint monicas, and the public library for FREE….public is PUBLIC. Yet they can go to any surrounding community to any park, any library, any park and recreation sports program or after school program, yet the reverse is not true at all. Your child cant go to afterschool care at Virginia park unless they are a SM resident…..so the “gated community/exclusion” factor even extends to children. What gall to seek support from our Venice! Let them unlock the gates to these other venue then they can EARN our support! what is next? Charging non residents of santa monica for beach access? I bet they would if they could, they must not be allowed to by the costal commision or they’d be all over that!

Laura Silagi
I want to commend Ivan on his description of our Bad Neighbor, Santa Monica.

Ivan listed the many ways in which Santa Monica has exploited its neighboring L.A. communities. From library fees and dog park fees for non-residents, to flight paths out of SMO over Venice, etc. I would like to add another. Santa Monica has not provided staging areas for trucks involved in its building projects. There is a regulation that trucks cannot come into Santa Monica early in the morning. This leaves them to line up on Lincoln Boulevard waiting to be radioed that it is their turn to proceed to the building site. We have had huge dirt truck haulers lined up on Lincoln for blocks and blocks. Their diesel engines are kept running for hours every day whenever a large project is being built in Santa Monica. The fumes are blown into our neighborhoods, and we know the health risks associated with diesel fuel. I don’t see why Santa Monica even wants support from Venice, since they always do what they want. I know that there will be no relief from the added traffic through Venice this sports complex will bring, as there is none from their other projects in Santa Monica.

I say NO to giving support to them for anything until they clean up their act.

Amy Alcon
It is completely shocking that a train system was built in Los Angeles without parking on the Santa Monica end. Thank you for printing Ivan’s letter. I learned quite a bit from it.

And then there’s the Expo Line that all west siders have waited decades for. Santa Monica lobbied hard to get the Expo line to terminate in downtown Santa Monica. This will be a windfall for Santa Monica businesses and residents. You will be able to drive to the train stations, get out of your car, and ride all over the county. Except, now that it’s almost ready to open we find out that there is not going to be any parking in Santa Monica (except for a few spaces by Santa Monica College). The light rail is supposed to be for everyone, not just Santa Monicans. There is no way that this is just an oversight. Your city doesn’t want more traffic downtown so the rest of us are just screwed.

Lee
Wouldn’t that be amazing! I had heard Graham was supposed to reinstall the arches as part of his original building permit, not sure if that is true or not,but seems like any new permit should be subject to the same requirement.

Post office
Dennis Hathaway
By the way, I noticed that the fence around the Windward post office area is still pretty trashy. I didn’t have time to follow that issue, but I thought that there had been some contact with the postal service about it. Do you happen to know?

Ken
Ref: http://veniceupdate.com/2014/01/30/post-office-a-place-to-complain/
Do you guys have person working for 323 586 1250?????
i call that number several times due to problem i have with my shipping and waited for more than 1 hour everytime.
i got that number from local post office because they said they cant do anything about this.
so i call that number, and all i got is wasting my valuable time because they put me in hold for hours. literally more than hours!!!!!!! everytime i hear the message saying all representative are currently busy. i called them 9 am several times and got hold for 1 hour 20 mins today. and total hours i waited is added up to 10 hours now.
are you guys going to change this problem?
why do you even have that phone number when nobody is answering that line.
So frustrating.

Miscellaneous
Heather Kahler
311-
311 has never worked for me either, home or cell.

BULKI ITEM PICK UP IS FREE, PEOPLE
The city pickup for bulky items is FREE. FREE FREEE FREEEEEE. Use that number on your trashcans and call them. it takes 5 mins. did I mention they will haul any of your crapola no matter how large for FREEEEEEEEEEE.
Quit leaving things and lounge cushions, and couches, tables, lumber, in the alleys especially! there is absolutely no excuse.

Triangle Crime and Suspicious Persons
Even if they don’t come, still, call the police station ANY time you see someone suspicious. Your gut instinct is usually right, and the likely-hood of it being right is unfortunately more and more so in our neighborhood anymore. I was informed after I did this myself when they cane, tat pacific division has ONLY ONE person on dispatch…..like we are in an Iowan town of population 150……this absolutely boggles my mind….how in LOS ANGELES, ANY PART OF IT, is there only ONE person the answer for non emergencies? guess what happens, people get tired of waiting on hold with the hearing impaired signal blasting at them and they call 911. thus tying up emergency lines…..Prop 47, the officer also told me, is quote “killing them”…meaning they are overwhelmed with crime due to drug users trying to thieve in order to get a fix, and also deranged behavior that creates disturbances where they are called as well. Though well intentioned, it is having a negative effect on LAPD’s ability and time for response….

Lucy
Thank goodness LUCY WAS FOUND…..and her owners are amazingly persistent and dedicated to their dog. I am happy fo rLucy and for them that she is home, and extremely disgusted and sick over what happened to her while she was lost…..monsters. how and what, makes people be so disgustingly cruel. I don’t care where someone comes from or how one is brought up, one knows right from wrong, and no animal should ever pay the price for someone else’s misery and sadistic tendencies. People say pitbulls are vicious, truth is people are way more vicious. Lucy was a service dog for God’s sake! I hope they find those who did her wrong and put a stop to whatever they are doing.

Reta Moser
This is something we should all stop and that is the 5133 sq ft street vacation at 1656 Abbot Kinney Blvd, northwest corner of Abbot Kinney and Venice Blvd. Vacation of 5133 sq ft is rather a large gift of land. See article this issue.

Jim Murez said at a previous LUPC that there were (facts may not be what they should be but you will get the drift) 43 corners west of Lincoln for a total of over three acres. If one corner falls, it will be a precedent, and they will all fall. It will just be a matter of time. There are reasons for the DOT to keep the easement—visibility for safety is one big reason, street widening, another. Look at the corner at Mildred, Ocean, Venice.

Adding additional land (FREE) to a parcel allows owner to build that much more. If it is commercial, commercial can build to the property line, which would totally block visibility in many cases. Owner claims he can maintain it better. To some extent that is correct but they still want to use it for their individual purpose. Once again, large gift of land.

If for no other reason, Venice needs a little open space. Owner tried to vacate that corner at Mildred/Ocean/Venice. That is a visibility problem. Owner lost and look at what Robin Murez did. How special is that. That is what makes Venice the Venice it is.

Please rally your friends to support this effort. This is important.

On another note … Sometimes I just get overwhelmed with some comments from individuals on some subjects. Their insight, depth of understanding, and caring on a subject makes me proud to just be a part of the discourse and this community that fosters these minds and their ideas.

Recent Comments

Craig { Great shot Rick You always seem to get it right Way to go } – 1302 8:45 PM

Bruce { Reta, thanks for the link - I listened to the entire segment. Mark Ryavec presented a very balanced argument as to why the Permanent Supportive Housing initiative would be a bad deal for residents. He seemed to be supportive of limited use of motels as transitional homeless housing. I have... } – 1302 6:47 PM

Rick Swinger { Thats very "Good News" Will Hawkins and Thank You and Your VNC Homeless Committee for that! The neighbors on the frontline all around 3rd and now Hampton Dr. are in desperate need of some type of relieve from all this pollution, safety and health problem we have been having here... } – 1202 10:19 AM

Will { The Venice Homeless Committee worked with Lava Mae to find a suitable new location for their shower program and they will open again down by the beach in the parking lot at the end of Rose very soon. It's just taken some time to get approvals for the necessary water... } – 1202 9:26 AM

Rick Swinger { As for the potable showers being moved to the parking lot I have heard this from two different sources.One who works for Park and Recreation so maybe someone should talk to Mr. Bonin office. I can never get a response from them.3rd St has an uncontrolled dumping problem from public... } – 1202 7:25 AM

Rick Swinger { My bad. I first reported that at 630am of Feb 6 after seeing these bathrooms being use at 530am in the morning and talking to a homeless guy who was using them. Seeing that the City had approved of these bathrooms 24/7 on Jan 27th reported here on Venice Update... } – 1202 7:11 AM

Roger of Venice { Will, I agree 100%. I also have to add, that the Air B&B'S are adding to the housing crisis as well. I really think you would agree that we have to address this crisis as well. } – 1102 8:29 AM

Will { 70% of all Homeless suffer from some form of physical, psychological or mental disability. Hard to hold down a job and care for yourself when you're disabled in any way. City officials need to stop pretending that this is just a housing issue and address the def I envied in... } – 1102 7:04 AM

john mcmanamy { So where exactly do all the campers fit? Are they "Mentally Ill" or "victims of domestic abuse". Or where they not included at all? How could they be ignored? } – 1002 9:06 PM

Resident { The reason why nothing was getting done was because Okulick sued them. I agree that they could be a lot more transparent, but the people against the BID have done everything to try to undermine it, Okulick is one of the biggest offender. } – 0602 1:46 PM